


What a Wonderful Mess I've Made

by coatlicue



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Bisexual Female Character, But Veronica is an Angel, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Self-Harm, We Hate Alice Cooper, beronica
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-11
Updated: 2017-06-11
Packaged: 2018-11-12 16:17:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,414
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11165478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coatlicue/pseuds/coatlicue
Summary: "If you want I can badly hurt everyone who's ever made you cry. I can do that, you know. Full dark, no stars." Betty laughs at Veronica, "But right now, I'm gonna hug you, okay?"Or, Betty cries on the subway after a rough night with Alice and Hal Cooper and Veronica is the beautiful kind stranger that insists on helping her.





	What a Wonderful Mess I've Made

Ever since Betty went to college, she's chosen to opt out of the monthly family dinners that Alice Cooper so desperately wants to keep in tradition. There are many reasons for this, and right now, with her mother's piercing words etched into her brain, she's all too aware of every one of them.

She leans her head against the window, the gentle vibrations of the subway running through her skull.

_"Oh Betty, I wish you hadn't stopped taking your Adderall, sweetie. You need to be able to focus, you don't want to end up like Polly."_

Betty's hands curl into tight fists as she tries to fight the images of Polly being dragged away from her in a dusty rehab corridor. Polly, the only person in the whole entire world who understood what it was like to live under that roof, with that mother. The only person who cared.

Her mother hadn't even said anything new or particularly wounding, just the same old remarks about how she should really start watching her weight because she was looking a little pudgy. How she should buckle down before no man wants her. How she had a B on her last report card and _"that will not stand, Elizabeth Cooper."_ How she should really dump those friends of hers, the ones she has known since she was old enough to understand what friendship meant, because they were obviously a distraction.

It didn't matter, because Betty knew what her mother really meant. _Stop being happy in situations where I cannot control you._

And now Alice Cooper has finally snapped and given her an ultimatum. Dump her friends, lose that weight, and get her GPA back to a rightful 4.0 within the next quarter or they would stop helping her pay for college.

Betty had looked at her father then, because even though he had never been particularly supportive, she had widely regarded him as being the softer of her two parents. But Hal Cooper refused to meet her eyes, even for a second, and continued to look at his wife.

_"Your mother has made her decision, Betty."_

Betty curls her fists tighter and her nails dig deeper into her palm, where she can feel them break skin. She feels the first tear slip down her cheek and she can picture her mother's condescending frown in her mind. _"Ladies do not cry in public, Betty Cooper."_

Get it together, Betty Cooper. She tries to tell herself, but it only makes her cry harder as the absolute hopelessness and desperation of the situation crashes into her. A sob escapes her, and then another, and then another, and she can't stifle them anymore as she furiously wipes at her eyes with the sleeve of her pink sweater.

"Oh, no," A velvet voice calls from across the aisle and Betty glances up to see a girl staring at her.

The girl has raven black hair and large eyes, and she's sitting with a group of friends wearing cat ears. They're all moderately drunk by the looks of it. She pulls herself up and sways over to sit next to Betty.

"Hey, don't cry," she says, sadly, her tone pleading as if she might start crying too.

"Oh my God, sorry," Betty tries to chuckle but it comes out sounding more like a strangled sob.

The girl pets Betty's shoulder and says, "It's all gonna be okay."

"Not this time," Betty admits, the words spilling out where she did not give them permission to come. God, she is just leaking all over the place tonight. Her nails dig deeper into her skin in an effort to distact her mind from the noises inside her brain.

"Of course it will," The girl says, and she sounds so sure of herself that it makes an amused Betty smile just a little. "Oh, I made you smile! I'm Veronica by the way."

"Betty."

"Betty, that's pretty. Fitting," Veronica says, taking her hand. Betty had forgotten about the red half-moon marks on the inside of her palms, and by the time she remembers, it's too late. Veronica has already seem them. She doesn't say anything, just kind of looks at them and at the older scars lining her palms with kind regards. "Do you want me to kiss it better?"

Before Betty can kindly tell her that it's not such a good idea, Veronica has brought the palm of Betty's right hand up to her lips and given it a small peck. She does the same with her left hand before she drops both of them back into Betty's lap.

"There, all better." Veronica leans back into her seat, "Does anything else hurt?"

"Not anything else you can see."

"Ah, the emotional stuff. That's a little harder to fix, that's what my dad used to say, before... _un hueso roto se arregla en tres semanas. Con un corazón roto se dura toda la vida en luto._ "

Betty chuckles sadly, "Veronica?"

"Mmm, yeah?"

"I'm very white." Veronica laughs softly at Betty, "I have absolutely no idea what you said."

"It's... A broken bone is fixed in three weeks. If you break your heart you can spend your whole life mourning."

Betty takes a shaky breath as her eyes fill with tears again. Crystal blue eyes dance down to her already bloodied palms as she surpresses the urge to curl her hands into fists. Veronica takes notice of this and grabs both of Betty's hands, cradling them softly in hers.

"I can try and kiss it better, if you want?"

"No, Veronica. I don't think that would be appropriate."

Veronica pouts, "Why not?"

"Because you're drunk, sweetie, it wouldn't be right."

Veronica seems to contemplate it for a second, "Can I hug you, then?"

Betty laughs, just a little, a tinkling sound, because Veronica looks more sincere than she's seen anyone look in a while. The girl will probably not remember any of this come morning, but Betty has a feeling she will keep the Latina with her for a lifetime. She pureness of it makes Betty want to start crying again.

"Oh no, you're crying again," Veronica frowns, her perfectly-shaped brows pulling close, "Did I do something wrong?"

"No, no. You're just... very kind. I needed that right now. Thank you, Ronnie."

"If you want I can badly hurt everyone who's ever made you cry. I can do that, you know. Full dark, no stars." Betty laughs at Veronica, "But right now, I'm gonna hug you, okay?"

"Okay, yeah, I would like that," Betty says, and Veronica wraps her tan arms around her waist almost immediately. Betty buries her face in Veronica's hair and it's so soft and it smells like strawberries and its so kind that it makes her start sobbing again.

"You're crying into my hair," Veronica mumbles, and Betty tries to pull away apologetically, but Veronica only tightens her grip.

"No, don't let go, it's okay." She starts rubbing Betty's back and it only makes Betty sob harder, her whole body shaking. Veronica hums a nameless tune into her ear and Betty thinks that she's probably a good singer when she's not drunk.

"Ronnie," One of the girl's friend's calls out, coming over to them. "You gotta disengage, sweetie, the next stop is ours."

"Thank you," Betty says as they pull apart from each other.

"Don't mention it, I'm glad I could be of assistance to a pretty girl like you," Veronica smiles, and then she turns back to her friend. "Josie, this is Betty. She's sad."

Josie digs into her purse for a few seconds and pulls out a candy bar, "Here you go, girl. You need this more than I do."

Betty laughs, "Thanks."

"You should... you should give me your number. And then maybe when I'm not drunk we can hang out and you'll kiss me."

"Yeah, okay," Betty says as she feels the tips of her ears turning pink.

"Here," Veronica pulls a purple pen out of her bag and extends her arm. Betty writes her number down in block letters under the name Betty - The girl who cried on the subway.

"C'mon, Ron, it's time to go," Josie says as the subway comes to a stop."

Veronica stands up and links arms with her friend. As they walk out Betty hears her say, "That girl is my soulmate. I'm telling you, she's the subway ride to the rest of my life."

Her friends just laugh, but Betty's heart soars.

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own the characters. I didn't even come up with this premise, I got the prompt off tumblr. But I still hope everyone enjoyed!


End file.
